If you’ve spent any time building your criminal empire in the hit open-world mob title, you’ve probably heard rumors of mafia the old country horses — rare, powerful mounts that offer far more than just a faster way to travel across the game’s sprawling rural and urban maps. Unlike common civilian horses you can pick up from any local stable, these special mounts come with unique stat boosts, exclusive perks, and even story ties to the game’s core Sicilian mob lore that makes them one of the most sought-after collectibles for casual and competitive players alike. I’ve spent over 100 hours grinding to unlock three of these rare horses for my own family, so I’m breaking down everything you need to know to get your hands on one, train it properly, and use it to get an edge over rival crews.
What Makes Mafia The Old Country Horses Unique From Regular Mounts?
First off, these horses aren’t just reskinned common mounts with a fancy coat. Every one of them comes with three permanent, non-customizable stat boosts that stack with other family buffs you might have active, which makes them game-changing for both PvE missions and PvP turf wars. You won’t find these boosts on any other mount in the game, no matter how much in-game cash you spend at premium stables.
Let’s break down the core unique perks you can expect:
They also come with custom voice lines and interactions with NPCs across the map, especially older Sicilian characters that will make comments about your mount if you ride up to their shops or mission markers. It’s a small touch, but it adds a lot of immersion for players who care about the game’s story lore.
How to Unlock Your First Rare Old Country Horse
A lot of new players assume you have to buy these horses with premium currency, but that’s not true at all. The only way to unlock your first one for free is to complete the full 12-part Sicilian Heritage side quest line, which unlocks automatically once your character reaches level 42 and your family controls at least two rural farm territories on the map.
The quests are mostly straightforward: you’ll help a distant cousin from the old country set up a horse breeding operation on your farm, fend off rival crews that try to steal the first foal, and run a few smuggling missions to get special feed and supplies for the stable. The whole quest line takes around 3 to 4 hours to complete if you don’t get sidetracked, and you get to pick your first horse’s coat color and base personality once you finish the final mission.
Now, if you don’t feel like grinding the quest line right away, there are casual mini-games you can play during downtime between missions for a chance to win a rare horse skin or even a full mount. For example, many players who want a shot at exclusive in-game rewards without extra grinding play quick mini-game rounds in their free time, and Jaiho Spin is a popular pick for that, as it sometimes offers limited-edition old country horse perks as top prizes for lucky players. Just make sure you only access mini-games through official in-game portals to avoid risking your account security.
If you do buy a horse with premium currency, it will have the exact same stats as the one you earn through the quest line, so there’s no pay-to-win advantage for players who spend real money. The only difference is the exclusive coat patterns that come with premium purchases, which don’t affect performance at all.
Pro Training Tips to Maximize Your Horse’s Stats
Once you get your horse, you can’t just leave it in the stable and expect it to perform at full capacity. You have to train it regularly to unlock its full stat potential, and there are a few common mistakes new players make that waste weeks of training time.
One thing to note is that mafia the old country horses don’t lose stamina as fast as regular mounts even before you max the stat, so you can use them for short runs right after you unlock them.
First, don’t waste your training sessions on speed drills right away. The first stat you should max out is stamina, because that determines how long your horse can run at top speed without getting winded, which is critical for long smuggling runs and extended police chases. You can max out stamina in about a week of daily 10-minute training sessions, so it’s worth prioritizing before you touch any other stats.
Another tip is to only feed your old country horse the special imported Sicilian hay you can buy from the farm vendor, not the generic hay you get for common horses. The imported hay gives a 15% boost to all training progress for 24 hours, which cuts down the total time to max out all three of your horse’s stats by almost half. You don’t have to spend real money on it either — you can earn enough farm tokens from running daily crop missions to buy as much as you need.
Don’t train your horse more than twice a day either. Any training sessions after the second one will only give you 10% of the normal progress, so it’s a waste of time and feed. It’s better to spread sessions out across days to get the most value out of every minute you spend training.
Best Ways to Use Your Old Country Horse for Progression
Now that you have a fully trained horse, you might be wondering how to get the most value out of it instead of just using it to ride around the map for fun. There are three core areas where these horses give you the biggest edge, and leaning into them will help you level up your family and earn more cash much faster.
First, use it exclusively for cross-country smuggling missions. The extra cargo capacity means you can earn 25% more cash per run, and the immunity to spike strips means you won’t lose your cargo if a rival crew tries to ambush you on the road. I’ve earned over $2 million in in-game cash in the last month alone just running smuggling missions with my old country horse, which is way more than I ever earned using vans or trucks for the same runs.
Second, bring it to all open-world turf war events. The faster escape speed means you can capture control points much faster than players using cars or regular mounts, and you can outrun enemy crews that try to chase you down after you capture a point. Just make sure you don’t bring it to small indoor mission areas, since it can’t fit through doorways and you’ll end up wasting a spawn slot.
Third, you can lend it to lower-level family members to help them grind their own missions faster, which earns you extra family reputation points that you can trade for exclusive premium items like rare weapon skins and safe house upgrades. Lending your horse to other members doesn’t cost you anything, and you can call it back to your stable at any time, so it’s a no-brainer if you want to climb the family ranks faster.
You can also enter your horse in monthly in-game horse races held in the rural part of the map, which have prize pools of up to $500,000 in in-game cash for first place. The old country horses have a natural speed advantage over regular mounts in these races, so you’ll have a much higher chance of winning if you participate regularly.
At the end of the day, mafia the old country horses are one of the most valuable free rewards you can earn in the game, and the grind to unlock and train one is well worth the time you put into it. Even if you only play a few hours a week, you can unlock your first horse in under a month, and it will make every part of building your criminal empire feel faster and more rewarding. Take your time with the quest line, prioritize stamina training first, and use it for smuggling runs to get the most value out of it as soon as possible.
